WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Satori

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◈ Wanderer of the Martial World ◈

Chapter 26

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“Gaga.”

At some point, the way she addressed me had changed from “senior” to “Gaga.”

It was a term lovers used for each other.

I had to admit, hearing it for the first time made my heart flutter a little.

After making love several times the previous night, we had grown close very quickly.

As the saying went, physical intimacy bred affection.

We set out on the road in this newly changed relationship.

“Who do you think they were yesterday?”

Under bright sunshine, as though yesterday’s torrential rain had vanished without a trace, Baek So-ok asked me in a lively voice.

“It must have been the Demonic Cult.”

Her body immediately stiffened.

In a way, it was only natural.

In this world, where there was not much else for entertainment, the stories people enjoyed most were stories of the martial world. She must have heard plenty about the Demonic Cult.

The orthodox factions practiced martial arts to uphold chivalry.

The unorthodox factions practiced martial arts to pursue profit and desire.

And then there was the Demonic Cult, a bunch of grotesque madmen.

Having heard such stories since childhood, the people of this world carried a subconscious fear of the Demonic Cult.

Of course, from my perspective, the orthodox and unorthodox factions were much the same.

Still, the Demonic Cult was a little different even to me.

No matter how they controlled even yokai aura through demonic arts, there was no way there could be no side effects at all.

Their bodies did not melt away like those bandits’, of course, but there was a strong chance of mental problems.

And like the bastard we faced yesterday, their bodies seemed to undergo grotesque transformations.

Or perhaps that was a demonic art too?

The problem was that they did not consider any of it a side effect.

That was why they were madmen.

“Phew... That’s such a relief.”

Baek So-ok seemed genuinely relieved.

There was not much information about the Demonic Cult, so I did not know much either.

And I did not even know whether most of what had spread among common people was accurate.

Putting aside my thoughts about the Demonic Cult, I continued walking.

This time, I adjusted my pace more for Baek So-ok’s sake.

The affection that had arisen without my realizing it made me more considerate.

Still, I remained alert to our surroundings, preparing for an attack by yokai.

In the wild, a moment of carelessness could cost you your life.

Outwardly, we probably looked like a young man and woman strolling harmoniously through the forest.

In truth, though, neither Baek So-ok nor I was in very good condition.

The greatest problem was that we had no food.

We had both fled in a panic and failed to think about bringing provisions.

That was why neither of us had eaten anything since dinner the previous evening.

Skipping one meal was normally no problem, but we had expended a great deal of stamina.

Before long, our slight hunger had turned into hunger.

If we could not find a road by today, we would have to hunt.

“Where do you think we are?”

“I don’t know.”

We had come to an unfamiliar place.

We had escaped to the left of the ship’s direction of travel, so we should be in either Hubei Province or Anhui Province.

Of course, that did not tell us our exact location.

I considered going back down and traveling along the Yangtze River, but abandoned the idea in case we encountered the Demonic Cult bastards.

So we headed north.

We found a main road when the sun had dipped slightly toward the western horizon.

If we had found it any later, I would have looked for shelter and prepared to hunt.

“Wow!”

Baek So-ok’s eyes sparkled with delight.

Naturally.

We had not simply found a road.

A main road was itself a trace of human civilization.

It had been only half a day, but the layers of helplessness building inside us were swept away in an instant.

Just then, I caught Baek So-ok by the shoulder and lowered my body.

Though startled for a moment, she followed my movement and crouched down as well.

Clip-clop, clip-clop.

The sound of horses’ hooves.

Then a flag and a group came into view.

The flag bore the characters for Samhap.

Behind the mounted person at the front came a line of loaded wagons, surrounded by martial artists as though they were guarding them.

Behind them walked people carrying heavy loads, followed by ordinary-looking travelers.

An escort agency procession.

I had followed one of those a few times myself.

“It’s an escort journey.”

Baek So-ok’s quiet words seemed to say we should hurry over and ask for help.

But I did not move.

Instead, I looked at Baek So-ok and gave a slight shake of my head.

People were dangerous.

Especially in the wild like this.

Of course, with so many witnesses, there was a good chance they would accept us if we asked to join the procession midway.

But they could just as easily attack us instead.

They only needed to make up a pretext.

The mere fact that we looked suspicious could serve as one.

I looked over our appearance.

My upper garment was nearly rags, and my clothes, soaked by rain and not properly dried, gave off a musty smell.

Baek So-ok looked somewhat better, but not by much.

Even though we carried weapons, we looked like easy targets.

Considering Baek So-ok’s pretty appearance, there was no small chance something would happen.

It was not an unfounded thought.

I had heard rumors about it several times, and I had seen it happen too.

There had been a father and daughter who looked like villagers, traveling with an escort journey after paying a little money.

Then someone suddenly claimed that escorted goods had been stolen, and when they searched the father’s luggage, expensive-looking jewelry appeared.

Until then, I had thought the man had really stolen the escorted goods.

That was, until I heard Yi Pyeong click his tongue and grumble that they were pulling the same trick again.

In the end, the escorts killed the father outright and declared that they would take his daughter as compensation.

I could still vividly remember their leering smiles.

The orthodox and unorthodox factions were thugs to begin with. There was no reason escorts would be decent people.

Still, escorts knew how to bow and scrape before people with power.

After all, they had to transport those people’s goods.

The sights of this world I had witnessed, starting as a beggar, then working as a waiter, and later living as a wandering martial artist.

They had made me who I was now.

“What will you do?”

Baek So-ok kept her voice as low as possible.

When I looked back, there was not a trace of dissatisfaction on her face.

People normally became dissatisfied when someone chose differently from what they wanted.

But she only looked at me as though she trusted me.

Was it trust, or was it an act?

Even after sharing our bodies, our trust had not yet fully formed.

Still, it was far better than before.

Her decision not to leap into the Yangtze River first from the ship, and the way she had sought me out and clung to me in the water, had raised my trust in her considerably.

“I think we should follow them secretly. Is that alright?”

Baek So-ok smiled faintly and nodded.

So we followed the procession from far enough away that we could barely see its tail end.

There was another reason I chose to follow them secretly instead of joining them.

We were near the Yangtze River.

I had heard that the Yangtze accounted for more than half of all freight movement across the continent.

Naturally, there could not be few cities and villages along it.

If I had expected a great distance between villages, I would have risked joining the procession.

As though proving my expectation right, we were able to enter a city just before sunset.

Huangzhou.

A massive port city in Hubei Province, right beside the border with Anhui Province.

Countless people moved through its streets.

People carrying swords, traveling merchants moving together in groups.

Even people who appeared to be sailors.

Having already passed through Yueyang, I was not especially surprised, but it was unquestionably a prosperous city.

The problem was that we had no money.

Every bit of our cash had fallen into the Yangtze River.

We had gone a full day without food and were extremely hungry.

On top of that, after being out in the wilderness, a slight chill was beginning to seep into our bodies.

Naturally, one method came to mind.

Robbery, like I had done in Anin County.

Thinking of it made my heart feel a little heavy.

Killing bad people was not much of an issue in itself.

But the thought of my own boundaries crumbling felt troubling.

Honestly, making money was easier than one might think.

You just had to rob people.

Even if I were as careful as possible, I could make more than I ever could as a wandering martial artist.

But unless a truly unavoidable situation arose, I would not do it.

No matter how evil the target, the basis of the act was killing a person and taking their money.

Killing because someone picked a fight with you and killing out of greed were different matters.

Now that I sometimes felt the urge to kill on impulse, beyond merely killing in response to provocation, I needed to guard myself even more carefully so that killing from greed would not become easy.

If I robbed someone, I would probably feel self-loathing the first time.

But what about the second? The third?

At some point, the guilt and self-loathing would vanish from my heart.

Then I would gradually loosen my own rules.

Would robberies that began by targeting bad people eventually target ordinary villagers? And after that, would I not do even worse things?

At the very least, I did not want to become that yet.

Of course, our current situation left us no choice. We would have to rob someone.

My heart felt a little heavy.

“Gaga! We can stay at an inn with this. It should cover one night.”

Baek So-ok discreetly took a silver tael from her clothes.

Right. Baek So-ok was here too.

“Let’s do that.”

We searched for an inn, making our way through the crowd.

It was obviously a cheap inn.

If we had enough money, we would have found somewhere better, but we had no choice right now.

We needed to eat too.

When we opened the inn’s door and entered, a loud clamor met our ears.

They glanced at us, but most soon turned their eyes away again.

A few, however, kept their eyes fixed on Baek So-ok.

“We came to eat.”

We decided to eat first.

Having gone hungry all day, we were ravenous.

“What’ll you have?”

After a moment’s thought, I answered the old man who appeared to own the inn.

“Two servings each of thin noodles, dumplings, and vegetables.”

I ordered inexpensive dishes first.

We had no money, after all.

And for the moment, I thought carbohydrates alone would be enough for a meal.

More than anything, they would restore our strength quickly.

“Two servings of noodles, dumplings, and vegetables!”

The order was placed.

“Ten mun.”

The price called out was as cheap as the food.

Baek So-ok was about to take out her silver tael.

“Ah, hold on.”

Someone called out to us from behind.

When I turned, a man swaggered over.

I quickly looked him over from head to toe. He did not seem particularly well-trained, and a broadsaber hung at his waist.

“Don’t do that. I’ll buy you a meal.”

His arrogant tone matched his swaggering movements.

A street thug?

They called themselves the Black Path, but compared to actual Black Path bandits, they were worthless nobodies.

They wanted to become martial artists, but lacked the nerve for it and could not even become wandering martial artists.

That was why they only harassed powerless commoners. Unable to throw their weight around in ordinary districts, they only bullied the commoners living in slums.

Those were street thugs.

“Just lend me that woman for a day in return. Heh heh.”

And they could not judge their opponents either.

I was already extremely sensitive from hunger and fatigue.

For a moment, I considered killing him immediately.

“Get lost.”

Even so, I held back as best as I could.

No, honestly, I was provoking him.

For a pretext.

“Ha... You bastard!”

His hand came quickly toward my cheek.

I twisted aside, avoiding his palm, and used his momentum to drive my fist into his Adam’s apple.

“Ghk!”

Thud!

He fell backward.

Seeing him tremble as bloody foam filled his mouth, it seemed I had struck him properly.

He would probably die, would he not?

Clang! Clang!

Several people sprang to their feet and drew their weapons in an instant.

Common broadsabers, daggers, even willow-leaf sabers.

Weapons of all kinds came out.

“You bastard!”

“Die!”

A drawn weapon had to be answered with a weapon.

I had been given an excellent pretext.

I drew my straight saber and cut down the men charging at the front, slicing through their necks.

There was no need to use martial arts.

They were not even third-rate.

They had even less nerve than unranked wandering martial artists.

They were not opponents in the first place. All they knew how to do was swarm together and threaten people.

I deflected a dagger with the tip of my straight saber and immediately drove it into the man’s neck.

“Ghk!”

“Aagh!”

At some point, Baek So-ok had drawn her sword and was dealing with the men as well.

Then, in an instant.

“Spare... spare me...”

Stab.

Baek So-ok’s sword pierced the neck of the man who was about to give up fighting, and the small battle ended.

The inn was as silent as a grave.

I quickly searched the men’s clothes and found silver taels.

As befitted street thugs, they had almost no money, but gathered together, it was still enough to last us several days.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

We passed the trembling innkeeper and went outside.

Without robbing anyone, we had luckily obtained money.

My whole body was drenched in blood, but I felt quite good.

Footnotes:

“Gaga” is an affectionate form of address for an older male lover.

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